The internet has become a valuable resource for people looking for options before purchasing travel, such as air travel. Many travel service providers (e.g., airlines, travel agencies, and online flight clearinghouses) offer travel services via web servers. Such services may include selecting and booking flights, checking departure and arrival times, reviewing mileage award status, and so on. To book a flight with an airline via the web, a traveler visits the reservation web page of the airline. The traveler then enters a departure city, destination city, departure date, and optionally other criteria such as class of service. The airline's web server identifies the airline's flights that match the criteria and presents the flights to the traveler. The flight information provided to the traveler typically includes the departure and arrival times, price, restrictions, number of layovers, and so on.
A traveler may search many airline websites before finding desirable flights. Online travel clearinghouses, such as Travelocity and Expedia, provide an interface to a traveler to search flight information provided by numerous carriers, consolidating the traveler's search to one convenient location. Many travelers will compare flights from competing airlines and purchase air travel based on which flights best meet their needs. For example, a traveler enters a departure city, destination city, departure and return dates, and performs a search for flights based on these criteria. The clearinghouse's web server identifies flights that match the criteria and presents the flights to the traveler. Often, the clearinghouse presents the traveler with a large number of flight options that can be burdensome for the traveler to review. Although the traveler can sort and re-sort the presented flight options based on the criteria (for example, showing flights options from least to most expensive), the traveler typically will spend a great deal of valuable time reviewing all of the available flight options before making a selection.
Travelers often consider many factors before purchasing flights. These factors may include cost, departure dates, time of departure and arrival, airport convenience, flight duration, carrier, and so on. Because flight options generally are presented one dimensionally (for example listed by price or carrier name), however, the traveler may review many undesirable flight options before finding an acceptable flight.
Therefore, it would be desirable for an airline or online clearinghouse to provide a system that considers a number of criteria before providing flight options to a traveler. It would also be desirable for a travel service provider or clearinghouse to provide a system that presents a useful and refined list of flight options to a traveler.